Local to Global Phase 1 (2023-24): Building a resilient UNESCO network in the UK

Project Phase Overview

UNESCO Designated Sites are a bridge from local to global action. Across the UK’s coasts, countryside and cities is an extraordinary network of places and people working on important interconnected challenges related to environmental, economic, social and cultural diversity.

Each Biosphere Reserve, Global Geopark, and World Heritage Site is a central hub where openness and collaboration drive the innovation and creativity required to achieve a better quality of life on our planet for futures to come. There is genuine motivation amongst the UK UNESCO network to cross-pollinate knowledge, resources and ideas as widely as possible.

To match the ambition of the sites, and for them to play their part in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the UKNC used findings from its major research studies, 'The National Value of UNESCO to the United Kingdom' and 'UNESCO Sites for Sustainable Development', to develop a roadmap for how it could be support UK UNESCO Designated Sites fulfil their potential.

For the first time, the Local to Global programme convened UNESCO site coordinators and external consultants to generate a community of practice that promoted skills, confidence, and capacity-building, in the following key areas:

• Audience development, stakeholder mapping and inclusion
• Fundraising and financial sustainability
• Digital transformation and web development